House Finch Carpodacus mexicanus
Near Philadelphia.
A brilliantly plumaged male sitting on a Japanese Maple. It is early spring, and you just see the unfolding leaf buds on the branches behind. Our bird’s genus name comes from the Ancient Greek for “fruit biter”— he is also quite willing to bite on buds of all sorts if fruit is absent. House Finches are a very adaptable, successful bird, and have spread and increased throughout North America in the past several decades. Originally from the Western half of the continent, a few birds were released in New York City in the 1940s, prospered … and eventually the two separated populations became one. It is fitting to see this bird on an introduced (and also attractive) tree.